Door fastener



W. M.' DWYER June 18, 1940.

DOOR FASTENER Filed Nov. 10, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Java/Liar William .Mflwyer' J 7 n TIE 1V B m p 5 p H a fl Q v "I- Q f D Q w. M. DWYER June 18, 1940.

DOOR FA-STENER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 10, 1938 Inventor Wlliwm/ Mflwyer Patented June 18, 1946 PATENT OFFICE DOOR FASTENER William M. Dwyer, Chicago, Ill., assignor to W. H.

Miner, Inc., Chicago, 11]., a corporation of Delaware Application November 10, 1938, Serial No. 239,777

9 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in door fasteners especially adapted for sliding doors of refrigerator cars.

One object of the invention is to provide a door fastener adapted for use in connection with sliding doors of railway cars of the refrigerator type, including a rotary operating bar having keeper engaging means at the end thereof and a keeper with which the engaging means cooperates, the

keeper being fixed to the car wall adjacent the door opening, wherein the keeper engaging means and the keeper are so designed that the rotary operating bar will be positively maintained in looking position when the door is closed, thereby preventing accidental actuation of the door fastener in door opening direction through outwardly directed forces acting on-the closed door.

A more specific object of r the invention is to provide a mechanism of the character set forth in the preceding paragraph, wherein the keeper engaging means comprises a cam portion on, and offset with respect to the axis of rotation of the operating bar, and a laterally projecting finger on said bar spaced from said cam portion, and

wherein the keeper is provided with a cam slot and a lug adapted to respectively cooperate with the cam portion and finger of the bar, the cam portion of the bar having a high point cooperating with the cam slot of the keeper, the location of said high point on the cam being such that the same is rotatable to a point beyond its active camming position to lock said bar against accidental rotation through eccentric forces acting on said cam portion, accidental creeping of the cam portion along the slot of the keeper being entirely prevented in that the locked condition of the bar against rotation in door opening direction can be broken only by initial slight inward camming action of the high point of the cam portion.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a door fastener comprising a rotary operating bar'having a laterally projecting finger and a keeper engaging cam portion of the character hereinbefore described, wherein the projecting finger and cam portion, in addition to serving as the means for forcing the door closed, also serve to force the door open by reverse rotation of the operating bar, the finger initiating the opening movement by engagement with the car wall and the cam member completing this movement through active engagement with the cam slot of the keeper.

55 Other objects of the invention will more clearly appear from the description and claims hereinafter following.

In the drawings forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a partly broken, front, elevational view of the side wall of a refrigerator car 5 and a door of the sliding type, showing the door seated in the door opening and illustrating my improvements in connection therewith. Figure 2 is a horizontal, sectional view, on an enlarged scale, corresponding substantially to the line 2---2 10 of Figure 1. Figures 3, 4, and 5 are views similar to Figure 2, but illustrating the parts in different positions, Figure 3 illustrating the parts in the position assumed when the door opening operation is being initiated, Figure 4 illustrating the 15 position assumed when the door has been forced partly open, and Figure 5 illustrating theposition of the parts during a stage of the door closing operation.

In said drawings, II designates the side wall 20 member of a refrigerator car having a door opening ll therein, adapted to be closed by a single door l2, which is slidingly mounted to be moved lengthwise of the car. The door i2 is supported for sliding movement in a wellknown manner by 25 top and bottom crank arms l3--l3, which are connected to the top and bottom tracks ll-l4 so as to slide with respect to said tracks and be rotatable or swingable laterally of said tracks. As will be understood, four of such supporting 30 arms are employed to hold the door, top and bottom arms being located at each end of the door, the arms at the left hand end of said door only being shown in the drawings. The top arm l3 has a roller at its outer end guided by the upper 35 track 14, which is of substantially channelshaped cross section. The bottom arm 13 is journaled in a carrier l5 slidingly mounted on the bottom track ll. The inner ends of the crank arms l3-l3 are journaled in top and bot- 40 tom bearing brackets lG-IG secured to the door I2 in any suitable manner. A

In carrying out my invention I provide broadly an operating bar A rotatably mounted on the door and having a keeper engaging cam member 45 B and a finger C at each end thereof; and a slotted keeper D with which the keeper engaging cam member B and finger C cooperate.

Inthe present disclosure, my improved operating bar A, keeper engaging cams B, fingers C, and 50 keepers D are shown as embodied in a sliding door mechanism of the character disclosed in Figures '7 to 10 inclusive of Patent No. 2,119,574, granted to me Junel, 1938, the operating bar being geared to the crank arms l3-l3 in the same manner as the corresponding I parts disclosed in said patent, to actuate said crank arms through rotation of the operating bar and move the door into and out of the door opening.

The operating bar A is vertically disposed and includes top and bottom end members i1-l1 riveted thereto. The end members l1-l1 are provided with cylindrical bearing .portions l8-l3 journaled in the brackets lil6. Each end member l1 has keeper engaging means, comprising the cam member B and finger C at the outer end thereof. The cam member B and the finger C are preferably formed integral with the corresponding end member. As will be evident, the operating bar A, together with its keeper engaging means, is duplicated at the other end of the door. The operating bar A is manually actuated by an operating handle lever arm l9, which is pivoted thereto, as indicated at 20, so that it may be swung downwardly from the horizontal position shown in Figure 1 to a position alongside the bar A. The bar A is rotatable through an arc of 180' by means of the lever l3 and may be locked in either of its extreme positions of rotation by locking the lever I! either to the latch 2| or the latch 22. This operating lever l9 and the two latches 2i and 22 are of the same character as the corresponding parts of the mechanism shown in Patent No. 2,119,574 and operate in a similar manner.

As most clearly shown in Figures 2 to 5 inclusive, the cam member B and the finger C at each end of the bar A are carried by a horizontally disposed, platelike section 23 formed integral with the outer end portion of the corresponding end member l1. The cam member B at the lower end of the bar A depends from the corresponding platelike section 23, and the cam member B at the upper end of said bar is upstanding from the corresponding plate, as clearly shown in Figure 1. Each cam member B is of broadly triangular shape in horizontal cross section, as clearly shown in Figures 2 to 5 inclusive, presenting three substantially flat side faces 2t, 25, and 26, connected by roundedportions 21, 28, and 23. This cam men'ber B is laterally offset with respect to the axis of rotation of the bar A, thus forming, in effect, an eccentric lug or crank pin portion. The finger C is in the plane of the platelike section 23, projects laterally therefrom, and is spaced from the cam member B as shown, so that it is located at the side of the bar to one side of said cam member. The rear side of the outer end portion of the finger C and its extremity are rounded off, as indicated at 30, to provide a cam face portion for a purpose hereinafter described. The front edge face of the finger C is flat, as indicated at 3|, said flat face merging at the extremity of the finger with the rounded cam face 30.

The keepers D-D, which are located respectively above and below the door opening, are of similar design, but reversely arranged, each being inverted with respect to the other. As will be understood, four such keepers are employed, arranged in top and bottom sets at opposite ends of the door, each set cooperating respectively with the operating bar at the same end of the door. Each keeper D is in the form of a casting secured to the car wall. The base portion of each keeper casting has reenforced securing flange portions 3232 at opposite ends, the keepers being fixed to the car wall by bolts or other similar securing elements extending through said flanges and the wall of the car.

, Each keeper D is provided with an outwardly opening cam slot 33 and an abutment lug 34. The slot of the bottom keeper D faces upwardly while the slot of the upper keeper faces downwardly and the lug 34 of the bottom keeper is upstanding while that of the upper keeper is depending. The slot of each keeper has a long, substantially straight, rear wall 35. The front wall of said slot 33 is shorter than the rear wall and comprises an inner curved concave section 36. Opposed to the wall 33 is an outwardly inclined section 31, forming a corner 33 with said curved section. The cam slot 33 is thus provided with a flaring mouth. At the mouth or entrance to the slot, the outer end portion of the wall section 31 is rounded oil, as indicated at 33, to facilitate entrance of the cam member B.

When the door is in the closed and locked position shown in Figure 1, the finger C is in contact with the lug 34 and the rounded cam portion 21 of the cam member B is in holding engagement with the curved wall section 33 of the keeper slot. The rounded cam portion is of such a contour that it presents a high portion 43 adjacent the right hand end thereof, as seen in Figure 2, which seats in the concavity of the surface of the wall 36, the concavity of said surface being such that initial rotation of the cam portion B in a contraclockwise direction about the axis of the bar A forces the bar and the door to which it is attached in a direction inwardly toward the side wall of the car to a limited extent. It is thus evident that the cam portion 31, when seated in the concavity of the wall 36, will remain in door locking position and resist accidental rotation of the operating bar, inasmuch as the high portion 40 of the cam must ride over the inwardly curved outer end portion of the wall 33. In forcibly rotating the bar A in contraclockwise direction through the operating lever 13, the locking resistance of the high portion 43 of the cam is overcome, the door being initially forced slightly inwardly until the high portion 40 of the cam clears the outer end of said wall section at the corner 33.

With the door in closed position, as shown in Figures 1 and 2, the operation of my improved fastener is as follows: After releasing the latch 2|, the lever I 3 is swung outwardly away from the door from the left toward the right side of the bar A, thereby rotating the bar in a clockwise direction, as viewed in Figure 2. During rotation of the bar from the position shown in Figure 2 toward the position shown in Figure 3, the initial action is to break the locking engagement of the cam face 21 of the cam B with the wall section 36 of the cam slot of the keeper D and clear the same from engagement with said wall. As the cam lug B clears the wall 3 of the keeper, the finger C swings inwardly away from the stop lug 34 and into engagement with the wall of the car, as seen in Figure 2. Fm'ther rotation of the bar A in clockwise direction causes the door to be pried outwardly by the finger C until the cam member B comes into engagement with the inner wall 35 of the slot 33 of the keeper D, whereupon further rotation of the bar A causes the door to be cammed outwardly by the operation of the rounded cam face 28 of the cam B, as illustrated in Figure 4. At this stage of the operation, the door has been forced outwardly to a suiilcient extent to entirely free the same from the door opening so that it oifers little resistance to further outward movement by the supporting crank arms |3--|3 which are operated by the geared connection with the bar A. When the bar A has been rotated through an angle of approximately 180, the outward displacement of the door is such that it clears the side wall of the car and may be slid along the tracks -44 toa position entirely clear of and to one side of the door opening. In this connection it is pointed out that the handle lever l8 after rotation of the bar through said 180 is dropped to pendant position and locked by the latch 22 to prevent rotation of the crank arms and hold the door clear of the side wall of the car while being slid along the tracks l4--I4.

In closing the door the same is first slid into registering position with-respect to the door opening II. The handle lever I9 is then unlocked from the latch 22 and raised to horizontal position for rotating the bar A. The lever I9 is then swung outwardly away from the door and toward the right, as seen in Figure 1, to rotate the bar A in'contraclockwise direction, thus swinging the supporting crank arms which are geared to the bar A inwardly and moving the door partly into the door opening, thereby bringing the keeper engaging cam member into the mouth of the cam slot of the keeper D, which is approximately the position shown in Figure 4. Further contraclockwise rotation of the bar moves the parts tothe position shown in Figure 5, bringing the flat face 24 of the cam member B into operative engagement with the inclined wall or cam face of the keeper D to forcibly cam the door inwardly until the rounded cam face 21 rides over the shoulder 38 and seats in the concavity of the wall 35, as shown in Figure 2, tolock the door in closed position, as hereinbefore described. As shown in Figure 2, when the parts reach the door locking position the finger C abuts the lug 28 and limits rotation of the operating bar. It is further pointed out that the rounded end portion 39 of the outer wall of the cam slot of the keeper D facilitates engagement of the cam lug B withthe inclined wall 31 of the keeper slot.

I have herein shown and described what I now consider the preferred manner of carrying out my invention, but the same is merely illustrative and I contemplate all changes and modifications that come within the scope of the claims appended hereto.

I claim:

1. Ina car door fastener fordoors of refrigerator cars, the combination with a rotary operating bar mounted on the door; of a slotted keeper fixed to the car wall, said slot of the keeper having a concave seat in one of its walls, said seat facing the car wall; and means on said bar for forcibly camming the door shut by rotation of said bar in one direction including a cam lug engageable within said slot, said cam lug having a rounded cam face engageable within the concavity of said seat to lock the bar against rotation when the door is closed.

2. In a car door fastener for doors of refrigerator cars, the combination with a rotary operating bar mounted on the door; of a slotted keeper fixed to the car wall, said slot having a flaring mouth portion having a wall facing the car wall and inclined inwardly toward the same; and means for forcibly camming the door shut by rotation of said bar in one direction including an eccentric cam lug on said bar initially engageable with and movable inwardly of said inclined wall of said flaring mouth portion to cam said door inwardly.

3. In a car door fastener for doors of refrigerator cars, the combination with a rotory operating bar mounted on the door; of a slotted keeper having opposed inner and outer walls, said outer wall having an outwardly inclined portion to provide a flaring mouth for saidslot, and an inner concave seat portion facing "the inner wall of said slot;

and means for forcibly camming the door shut by rotation of said bar in one direction including an eccentric cam lug on said bar having a substantially straight face portion and a rounded face portion at one end of said straight portion successively engageable with and movable inwardly on said outwardly inclined portion of the outer wall of the keeper slot, said rounded wall portion being movable from said inclined wall portion into engagement with said concave seat to lock the bar against accidental reverse rotation.

4. In a. car door fastener for doors of refrigerator cars, the combination with a rotary operating bar mounted on the door; of a slotted keeper having opposed inner and outer walls; and means on said bar for forcibly camming the door inwardly and outwardly of the door opening including a lug of triangular shape engageable within said slot and having camming engagement with one of said walls of the slot when said bar is rotated in one direction and camming engagement with the other of said walls when the bar is rotated in a reverse direction.

5. In a car door fastener for doors of refrigerator cars, the combination with a rotary operating bar mounted on the door; of a slotted keeper fixed to the car wall; and means on said bar for forcing the door in and out including an eccentric cam lug on said bar, said lug being of triangular shape with rounded corners, one of the flat sides of said triangular lug and one of the rounded corners thereof successively engaging the outer wall of said slot to force the door inwardly when said bar is rotated in one direction and another of said rounded corners engaging the inner wall of said slot to effect outward movement of the door when said bar is rotated in a reverse direcion.

6. In a car door fastener for doors of refrigerator cars, the combination with a rotary operating bar mounted on the door; of a keeper fixed to the car, said keeper having a cam slot provided with inner and outer opposed walls, said outer wall having a concave seat portion at the inner end portion of said outer wall facing said inner wall; and means for forcing said door inwardly comprising an eccentric cam lug on said bar having a flat cam face and a rounded high cam face portion at the end of said flat face, said fiat cam face and high portion being successively engaged with the outer wall of said slot to force the door inwardly when said bar is rotated in one direction, and said high portion being moved into seated engagement with said concave seat tolock the bar against accidental rotation in reverse direction.

'7. In a car door fastener for doors of refrigerator cars, the combination with a rotary operating bar mounted on the door; of a keeper fixed to the car, said keeper having a slot provided with opposed inner and outer walls: and means on said bar for forcing the door shut including an eccentric cam lug on said bar having a cam face provided with a high point movable along said front wall of the slot to cam the door inwardly and rotatable to a position where said high point is displaced beyond dead center to lock said bar against reverse rotation.

8. In a car door fastener for doors of refrigerator cars, the combination with a rotary operating bar mounted on the door; of a keeper fixed to the car, said keeper having a cam slot defined by opposed inner and outer walls, said outer wall facing toward the, car sidewali and having a slightly concave inner end portion and an outwardly inclined outer end portion extending from said. inner end portion and forming a corner therewith; and means on said bar for forcing the door inwardly including an eccentric cam lug on said bar having a rounded cam face corresponding in curvature to the concavity of said inner end portion of the outer wall of the cam slot of the keeper to seat therein to lock said bar against accidental backward rotation, said cam lug having additional cam face portions engageable with said inclined wall portion of the cam slot to force said door inwardly.

9. In a car door fastener for doors of refrigerator cars, the combination with a rotary operating bar mounted on the door; of a keeper fixed to the car, said keeper having a cam slot defined by opposed inner and outer walls, said inner wall being straight and slightly inclined with respect to the plane of the car wall, said outer wall being shorter than the inner wall and comprising an outer end and inner end portions meeting at an angle, said outer end portion being inclined outwardly away from said inner wall, and said inner end portion being curved to provide a concave seat opposed to said inner wall; and means on said bar for forcing the door inwardly andoutwardly comprising a cam lug on said bar eccentric thereto and engageable respectively with said outerand inner walls to force the door in and out, and a convex cam face on said earn lug interlocking with said concave seat to hold said bar against rotation in door opening direction.

WILLIAM M. DWYER. 

